A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousand of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.

Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

Sunday, January 25, 2009

THE BIOLOGICAL FUNCTION OF THE THIRD EYEby Richard Alan Miller, c1975,1992.

From the time of Dionysius to the time of Plato, the cultures of the Mediterranean consented to the doctrine that claimed the existence of an order of ultimate reality which lies beyond apparent reality. This "paranormal" reality was accessible to the consciousness only when the "normal" routines of mental data processing were dislocated. It was Plato's pupil Aristotle who changed his teacher's game, separating physics from metaphysics. The philosophical temper of our present civilization, being scientifically and technically oriented, is basically Aristotelian.

No such rational figure as Aristotle arose in the Orient to a position of equal eminence. Because of this and other reasons, Indian anatomists and zoologists, who where no doubt just as curious as the Greeks about the origins of life, and as skilled in dissection, did not feel compelled to set their disciplines up in opposition to metaphysics. Physical and metaphysical philosophy remained joined like Siamese twins. As a result, the discipline which became medicine in the West evolved into a system known as Kundalini Yoga in the Hindu culture.

In Western terms, Kundalini Yoga can be best understood as a biological statement contained within the language of the poetic metaphor. The system makes the attempt of joining the seeming disparate entities of body and mind. It is a very complicated doctrine; in oversimplified terms, the system encourages the practitioner to progress through the control of a number of stages, called Chakras or mind-body coordination. A sixth, associated with clairvoyance and telepathy, is called the Ajna.

The physiological site of this sixth Chakra, the Ajna, is located in the center of the forehead. It is symbolized by an eye - the so-called third eye, the inner eye, or the eye of the mind. When this eye is opened, a new and completely different dimension of reality is revealed to the practitioner of yoga. Western scholars when they first encountered this literature, took the third eye to be an appropriately poetic metaphor and nothing else.

It was not until the middle of the nineteenth century, as the subcontinent of Australia and its surrounding territory came to be explored, that a flurry of interest centered upon a lizard native to the area, the tuatara (Sphenodon punctatum). This animal possessed, in addition to two perfectly ordinary eyes located on either side of its head, a third eye buried in the skull which was revealed through an aperture in the bone, covered by a transparent membrane, and surrounded by a rosette of scales. It was unmistakably a third eye but upon dissection it proved to be non-functional.

Though this eye still possessed the structure of a lens and a retina, these were found to be no longer in good working order: also lacking were the appropriate neural connections to the brain. The presence of this eye in the tuatara still posses a puzzle to present-day evolutionists, for almost all vertebrates possess a homologous structure in the center of their skull. It is present in many fish, all reptiles, birds, and mammals (including man). This structure is known in literature today as the pineal gland.

The gland is shaped like a tine pine cone situated deep in the middle of the brain between the two hemispheres. Studies then began to determine whether this organ was a true functioning gland or merely a vestigial sight organ, a relic from our reptilian past. In 1959 Dr. Aaron Lerner and his associates at Yale University found that meletonin (1), a hormone manufactured by the pineal gland, was created through the action of certain enzymes on a precursor chemical which must pre-exist in the pineal in order for it to be transformed into melatonin. This precursor chemical turned out to be serotonin (2).

It was E.J. Gaddum, a professor of pharmacology at the University of Edinburgh, who was the first to note a connection between serotonin and mental states of being. In a paper published in 1953, he pointed out the fact that LSD-25 was a potent antagonist to serotonin. Serotonin is not an unusual chemical in nature; it is found in many places - some of them odd, like the salivary glands of octopuses, others ordinary; it abounds in plants such as bananas, figs, and plums. What then is its function in the human brain?

The task of exploring the role played by melatonin, and its precursor serotonin, was undertaken by a biochemist, Julius Axelrod. He found that melatonin suppressed physiological sexuality in mammals. If test animals were stimulated to manufacture excessive amounts of melatonin, their gonads and ovaries tended to become reduced in size, to shrink, to atrophy. The estrous or fertility cycle in females could likewise be altered experimentally by doses of melatonin.

Now two most curious functions had been attributed to the pineal gland, the third eye of the mind:

(1) It has now been established that this organ produced a chemical which had, indirectly at least, been associated with psychedelic states, and

(2) It also produced a chemical which suppressed functional sexuality.

The literature of religious mysticism in all ages and all societies has viewed the mystical passion of ecstasy as being somehow antagonistic to, or in competition with, carnal passion.

Axelrod and his co-workers also discovered another incredible fact: the pineal gland produces its chemical according to a regular oscillating beat, the basis of this beat being the so-called circadian rhythm. They found that the pineal responded somehow to light conditions, that by altering light conditions they could extend, contract, or even stabilize the chemical production rhythms of the pineal.

The fact that the pineal responds to light, even if this response is indirect via the central nervous system, has some fascinating and far-reaching conceptual applications. There are many behavioral changes which overtake animals as the seasons change, and which can be produced out of season in the laboratory by simulating the appropriate span of artificial daylight. Do such seasonal changes in mood and behavior persist in humans?

The great religious holy days of all faiths tend to cluster around the times of the solstices and equinoxes. Is it possible that the human pineal gland responds to these alterations in length of daylight? Changing the balance of neurohumors in the brain may perhaps effect a greater incidence of psychedelic states in certain susceptible individuals just at these crucial times. This possibility provides an entirely new potential dimension to our secular understanding of the religious experience.

The pineal gland has thus been referred to as a kind of biological clock, one which acts as a kind of coupling system; perhaps maintaining phase relations within a multi-oscillator system; a phase coordinator for multiple bio-rhythms. The pineal is a "cosmic eye;" it is aware of celestial rhythm. It "tunes" our biochemistry to those subtle rhythms not observed by the normal eye, like seasonal and lunar changes rather than daily ones. Serotonin can be seen as the "intensity knob" of the brain. As the level of serotonin increases, so does the level of activation of the cortex.

Strong suspicion has fallen now on serotonin as being one of the principle agents of the psychedelic experience. Studies now reveal that LSD-25 strikes like a chemical guerrilla, entering into receptor granules in the brain cells swiftly, and then leaving after a very short time, perhaps ten to twenty minutes (in animals). When the bulk of LSD-25 has left the receptor granules, it is replaced by what seems to be excessive, or super-normal amounts of serotonin. The LSD-25 creates what is called a "bouncing effect," like a spring pushed too tight. When the LSD-25 leaves the system, the serotonin springs back and overcompensates.

For most of us, most of the time, our world is a Darwinian environment. We must manipulate ourselves within it, or attempt to manipulate it in order to survive. These survival needs tend to color our appreciation of this world, and we are continually making judgments about it. Some of these judgments are based on prior personal experience, others are provide by the culture. This "recognition system" is one of the elements disrupted by the psychedelic state.

The principle question concerning psychedelic states remains: How much disruption can the system tolerate? The problem of how to maintain a certain madness while at the same time functioning at peak efficiency has now captured the attention of many psychiatrists. There seems to be a point at which Edgar Allen Poe's "creative madness" becomes degenerative, impeding function rather than stimulating it.

In light of this analysis, a shaman can be seen to be uncoupling his internal bio-sensor from the universal inputs. He gets "drift" where he is rushed toward new signal-to-noise ratios. The particular rituals are set up to disconnect the shaman from his social and cosmic environment. This is done through the ritual use of hallucinogens; they de-synchronize his internal rhythms. This de-synchronization produces more noise in his awareness. It also expands that awareness. The rituals are so designed as to contain elements which focus or tune that "noise" and direct the expanded awareness.

Man is unique by virtue of being possessed by intuitions concerning the scope of the mysterious universe he inhabits. He has devised for himself all manner of instruments to prove the nature of this universe. The beginnings of scientific understanding of shamanistic ritual and the function of the third eye provide man with powerful new techniques for exploration. This will allow him to penetrate the vast interior spaces where the history of millions of years of memories lies entangled among the roots of the primordial self.

(1) The chemical substance melanin is the pigment which darkens skin color. It is located in specialized cells scattered through the topmost layer of skin. Melatonin was found to be the substance responsible for causing the contraction of melanin-producing cells.

(2) Serotonin is of the same chemical series of indole alkaloids which include psychedelic drugs such as LSD-25, psilocybin, D.M.T. and bufotenine. The hormone serotonin is also known as 5-hydroxtryptamine.

ADDENDUM:

06-01-92: This paper was originally written in 1975 for several scientific publications, and was reprinted IN THE CONTINUUM (Vol.II, No.3) in 1978. At that time, I made a very important discovery which was added to THE HOLISTIC QABALAH series. I thought to share that discovery at this time, to complete my thoughts on this subject:

In 1979 I was in a very serious accident, where I was crushed between a brick wall and an out-of-control automobile. My left knee was crushed, the parenteal nerve was severed at the knee. I was going to lose my leg! I postponed surgery, did some specific rituals with Kundalini and my "third eye," and now have complete regeneration of nerve tissue - something now believed by mainstream medicine as physically impossible.

Here is how I did it:

There is a "chill" which runs up (Gopi Krishna) or down (Sri Aurobino) the spine at certain times of the week. You can, in some situations, actually induce this event. Sometimes, you can make our whole body shake. This is the physical aspect of Kundalini. On a physical plane, there are a series of small nerve fillia that stick out from the spine - almost like a "ladder."

The "chill" is an EM-wave that is traveling up (or down) the spine, as each nerve fillia begins to oscillate. The most interesting fact about this is that the EM-field frequency in the visible light region! This is what most religions refer to as "The Light." And what is at the very top end of this wave-train of light? The pineal gland!

Now, if you stimulate the pineal gland on a regular basis - let's do it 3 times each day, what happens next is wonderful. The pineal gland is "light sensitive," its primary function now understood to regulate the body for seasonal changes (health). This so stimulates the pineal gland that it sends out a signal down the neural cavity. The neural cavity, of course, connects the pineal gland at one end with the thalamus at the other....

What happens is that a resonant cavity oscillator is set up in the neural cavity, causing it to modify the gleal cell it normally manufactures. If there are enough trace minerals in your diet, this stimulated neural cavity will actually create true nerve cells, rather than those associated with sheath (gleal). If you take a trace mineral supplement and do this exercise, you can regenerate nerve tissue!

The actual process took some 5 months of daily meditation, as the actual consistency of nerve tissue is somewhat like that of Vitamin E - very viscous and slow to travel down my central nervous system to my knee. I no longer have nerve loss of any kind. This was documented by Clinic 7 (Pain Clinic) at the University of Washington in 1980. I now walk normally, although I still have some structural problems.

This is but one application of the principles outlined in this paper. Serotonin can also be considered a "Gate" for accessing other dimensions not accessible to "normal" consciousness.

Enlightenment broadly means wisdom or understanding enabling clarity of perception. However, the English word covers two concepts which can be quite distinct: religious or spiritual enlightenment and secular or intellectual enlightenment. This can cause confusion, since those who claim intellectual enlightenment often reject spiritual concepts altogether.

In religious use, enlightenment is most closely associated with South and East Asian religious experience, being used to translate words such as (in Buddhism) bodhi or satori, or (in Hinduism) moksha. The concept does also have parallels in the Abrahamic religions (in the Kabbalah tradition in Judaism, in Christian mysticism, and in the Sufi tradition of Islam).

For a further explanation watch this short video explanation:

Now that you have seen two perspectives, I want to know what you think enlightenment is?

The third eye (also known as the inner eye) is a mystical and esoteric concept referring in part to the ajna (brow) chakra in certain Eastern and Western spiritual traditions. It is also spoken of as the gate that leads within to inner realms and spaces of higher consciousness.

In New Age spirituality, the third eye may alternately symbolize a state of enlightenment or the evocation of mental images having deeply-personal spiritual or psychological significance. The third eye is often associated with visions, clairvoyance, precognition, and out-of-body experiences, and people who have allegedly developed the capacity to use their third eyes are sometimes known as seers.

Physical basis: the pineal gland?

Some researchers, including Rick Strassman, have suggested that the third eye is in fact the partially dormant pineal gland, which resides between the two hemispheres of the brain. This concept is supported by the pinealocytes, one type of cells within the pineal gland, having a strong resemblance to the photoreceptors of the eye.

Additionally, the pineal gland is said to excrete dimethyltryptamine (DMT) [3], which induces dreams, near-death experiences, meditation, or hallucinations. Various types of lower vertebrates, such as reptiles and amphibians, can actually sense light via a third parietal eye—a structure associated with the pineal gland—which serves to regulate their circadian rhythms. - wikipedia

The video below goes into more depth about what the connection between the pineal gland and the more esoteric claims of the third eye.

Does the word secret actually come from the word secretion?

Does the understanding of secrets depend on the secretion of the pineal gland?

Watch this video to learn the answers.

Now that you have watched the video, what do you think?

Is the pineal gland the third eye which so many esoteric schools speak of?

Acupuncture prevents headaches and migraines but faked treatments when needles are incorrectly inserted appear to work nearly as well, German researchers said on Wednesday.

Their findings suggest the benefits of acupuncture may stem more from people's belief in the technique, said Klaus Linde, a complementary medicine researcher at the Technical University in Munich, who led the analysis published in the Cochrane Review journal.

"Much of the clinical benefit of acupuncture might be due to non-specific needling effects and powerful placebo effects, meaning selection of specific needle points may be less important than many practitioners have traditionally argued," he said in a statement.

Acupressure and acupuncture both are based on the theory of lines of energy running through the body. With acupressure, a fingertip or a bead is used to press a specific pressure point, while needles are used in acupuncture.

Several studies have shown both treatments may stimulate the release of hormones known as endorphins, which can relieve stress, pain and nausea.

Linde and colleagues conducted two separate reviews that included 33 studies of nearly 7,000 men and women to see whether the technique was effective at preventing headaches and migraines.

Overall, they found that over eight weeks people treated with acupuncture suffered fewer headaches compared to men and women given only pain killers.

When it came to migraines, the needles beat drugs but faked treatments worked too, the researchers said. For less severe headaches, acupuncture worked just slightly better than sticking the needles randomly, the researchers said.

"Doctors need to know how long improvements associated with acupuncture will last and whether better trained acupuncturists really achieve better results than those with basic training only," Linde said.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

‘Meta-language’ is when a person says one thing, and means something totally different. When someone is not listening, or doesn’t intend to do what you are suggesting, they involuntarily send out signals. Once you have learned how to spot these clues, you can regain their attention, or address their lack of conviction. In this article John will show you how to identify this behaviour and tell you what you can do about it.

Many of the clues lie in your own behaviour as a listener. Learn to scrutinise how you listen; in improving yourself you will become more responsive and persuasive to those who must listen to you.

This article will show you how to be a better listener.

But - if you’re still not sure whether you need to read further, ask yourself a couple of important questions:

Do you sometimes feel that you are not very good at persuading people – or that you may not even be heard?

Would you be prepared to invest an hour of your time, if you knew it would help to make you more influential and effective?

Tip One:

Become a better listener

Work on your own listening skills and you will gain far more from your communication with other people. Learn to spot the meta-language people use when they don’t mean what they are saying. Listen actively.

Borrow the tricks of the professional listeners’ trade

If appropriate say, ‘I agree with you’. Raise your eyebrows now and then. Give little nods. Echo what the other person says.

Ask short probing questions using what, why, when, how and where

Short questions should lead to long revealing answers.

Look for clues to meta-language

When people don’t really believe what they are saying – in other words, when they are being less than honest – their hands move to cover their mouths. More clues will be revealed in Tip Seven.

Retrieve the situation

When you spot meta-language going on, gently challenge what’s being said to you. Check that the person understands what you are saying to them.

Tip Two:

Find out what you are doing that loses people’s attention

When a person appears not to listen to you, it may be that you are ‘talking at’ him or her in some way.

Ensure you cannot be accused of any of these:

Being boring

Practise putting rise-and-fall into your voice. Use short sentences and pauses to break up your message. Introduce humour if you can.

Using jargon

We all use long or obscure words, with people who specialise in a similar field to ours. It’s important to remember what the jargon means, and to use plainer words with people outside that group.

Not noticing when your listener’s attention wanders

Are you maintaining eye contact with everyone to whom you are speaking? Are they nodding and echoing back what you are saying? If you don’t notice when you’ve lost someone, you cannot bring them back.

Tip Three:

Reasons for not listening Number 1 - Embarrassment

It is surprisingly easy to embarrass a person. People who are embarrassed are not listening any more. They are more concerned with their own panicky thoughts and hope you won’t notice their red face.

Look for the clues

We all know the signs: a flushed face, perhaps a red rash on the throat and ears. Look out for sudden loss of eye contact or evidence of sweaty hands and a dry mouth.

Quickly review what you’ve just said

Perhaps you are expecting too much from the other person and he or she is ashamed not to be able to understand you. Go over the ground again more slowly, or use different language. Becoming cross will only make things worse, so keep calm.

Put yourself in the other person’s shoes

Be careful not to draw attention to the embarrassment itself: it is only a clue to internal turmoil. Work gently around it until the meta-language dies down and the person is listening properly to you once more.

Tip Four:

Reasons for not listening Number 2 - Shock

Whether you have good or bad news to share, be careful of triggering a shocked reaction.

When people look shocked, they are not listening

You may not realise you’re at risk of causing a shocked reaction. It depends what the person was expecting you to say. Watch his or her face for that wide-eyed, frozen, open-mouthed expression.

Let the shock subside

Like an embarrassed person, a shocked person is listening more to the frantic voice inside his or her own head than to what you are saying. Talk about less threatening aspects while you wait for him or her to calm down. Then go on with the more detailed information, taking it more gently this time.

Tip Five:

Reasons for not listening Number 3 – Being Unconvinced

Someone who is unconvinced by what you are saying will find that his or her attention wanders.

Look for the clues

The classic meta-language clue to this is ‘cotton-picking’, when a person picks at imaginary fluff on their clothing or dabs at apparently perfect makeup.

Quickly review what you’ve just said

Can you identify the point at which your audience slipped away from you? Go back and re-state that same point in a different way. Listen actively while you are talking. Get that person back on your side before moving on.

Tip Six:

Reasons for not listening Number 4 - Confusion

There are people who earn a living by confusing people on purpose. They are called politicians. However, it can be easy to confuse people by mistake. A confused person will not admit to his lack of comprehension, and will not dare to ask you for clarification afterwards.

Check for understanding

Instead of asking whether a person understands what you have just said, make a comment that requires an informed reply. If he doesn’t or can’t give the answer you expected, he may have become confused. Go over the facts again in a different way.

Use empathy to reduce the tension

Saying, ’I don’t know about you, but even I found this idea confusing when I was new to it,’ should bring the person’s focus back to you. Then you can rephrase your message in a clearer way.

Tip Seven:

Spot the liar

People who are not listening, or who don’t understanding you clearly, display similar meta-language clues to people who are lying. This does not mean they are liars. It merely suggests you are not getting through. Here are the clues:

Covering the mouth

A person trying to give the false impression of understanding or agreeing with you will nervously touch or cover their mouth.

Averting the eyes

Often a man will look down, and if he wears glasses will remove them.

Cotton-picking and other fussing

Sometimes a woman will fuss with her nails or skirt, or pick fluff from her collar.

Nose and eye touching

The more a person tends to touch their nose, the more likely it is that he or she is telling lies. Women are especially prone to eye-touching when lying.

Tip Eight:

Be alert to selective hearing

A person may not show any outward signs of not listening attentively and yet he is still editing out important parts of what you are saying. Believe it or not, we all tend to hear half of what is being said. We listen to only half of that, and we remember half of that. This is normal behaviour, especially when you remember how busy we all are.

Slow down

Research shows that people can listen three times more quickly than they can talk. But it’s tiring. When you are making someone work that hard, listening to you, it is natural for them to take some ‘down time’. They will think about something else for a moment. During that moment they do not hear what you’re saying.

Beware of bombshells

Sometimes an emotive word will be the only thing a person hears out of what you are saying. This is catastrophic if what he or she remembers afterwards is the opposite of what you meant. For example, you might be reassuring, ‘. . there will be no redundancies.’ or, ‘. . I’m not leaving you.’ or, ‘. . you don’t look fat at all in that’ - and all your listener remembers is redundancies, leaving me, I look fat.

Tip Nine:

Use language positively

Your choice of language can make all the difference to the meaning you convey. When the magician says, ‘Don’t imagine a blue daisy,’ you can’t help imagining that unusual flower. When a friend says, ‘Don’t worry,’ that’s exactly what you do. Saying, ‘Picture a red rose,’ or ‘Think how happy you’ll be when it’s over,’ has the opposite effect. Positive language is powerful talk.

Don’t say don’t

When you tell a child not to step in a puddle, you give it the idea of stepping in the puddle. It might not even have noticed that puddle before you mentioned it. When you want people to hear an important point you are making, make that element the focus of what you are saying. Not the opposite.

Be honest and look out for honesty in others

There are verbal clues that denote a lack of honesty. ‘By the way . .’ signals the real reason for your conversation. ‘With all due respect .’ means someone is about to insult you. ‘I’m not racist but . .’ heralds a racist comment. Look out for words that contradict what has just been said or is said next.

Tip Ten:

Think like JFK

American President John F Kennedy had the ability to walk into a room, start chatting to any person there, and within 30 seconds he had that individual on his side. JFK’s secret was to spot clues to which of these three senses a person most uses to take in information, and then to use the language to which he was most attuned.

‘Feeling’ people

Sometimes called ‘kinaesthetic’, these people learn by experiencing. They say things like: ‘You touched on an important point there’ or ‘I hope I haven’t hurt your feelings’.

Say to them: ‘I feel you are picking this up quickly’ or, ‘I sense this is going well’

‘Listening’ people

Also called ‘auditory’, they learn best through words. Give them a map and they’ll rewrite your directions as bullet points. They say things like: ‘I hear your anger’ or ‘Sounds as if you’re getting the idea’.

Say to them: ‘I hear what you’re saying’

‘Seeing’ people

Often described as ‘visual’, they understand the world through pictures. Their directions will come in the form of a map. They scribble diagrams to explain a point. They say things like: ‘The idea came to me in a flash’ or ‘I’m trying to picture it’.

It may be difficult for you to keep focusing on the positive and the accomplishments in your life, especially when you are going through a particularly challenging obstacle. Here are 8 of my personal favorite quotes on self confidence, and the importance of it to our lives. Keep this quotes close on hand, or look for others that may inspire you further, for those moments when you need something to keep you motivated!

1. What you think of me is none of my business. What is most important is what I think of myself. -- Robert Kiyosaki

2. Luck has a peculiar habit of favoring those who do not depend on it. -- George Clason

3. Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. -- Tomas Edison

4. Just as we can learn from our mistakes, we can gain character from our disappointments. -- Robert Kiyosaki

5. Don't go around saying the world owes you a living; the world owes you nothing; it was here first. -- Mark Twain

6. The self-confidence of a person multiplies their powers a hundredfold. -- Robert Collier

7. Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great ones make you feel that you, too, can become great. -- Mark Twain

Monday, January 19, 2009

There are many different ways to meditate. Each one is a different method with broadly the same end result. Check out these different meditation methods to see which suits you best.

Walking meditation

This is one of the easiest ways to meditate, although obviously it isn't as separate from the rest of the world as you need to be aware of your surroundings. With a walking meditation you pay attention to your feelings and your surroundings. Allow yourself 20 minutes or so and if possible choose a place where you're away from traffic. A local park is good. Then go for a gentle walk and take in the area. Notice the smells and sounds and pay attention to what you see.

Breathing meditation

At its simplest, you find a quiet place where you won't be disturbed and start to take deeper breaths than you'd normally take. Breathe in a long, slow, deep breath. If possible hold it for a second or two before releasing it, again slowly. Repeat this over again, at least 5 times and ideally more. You'll find that this is a quick way to bring about a more relaxed state in your body.

Binaural beats meditation

This is the "modern" way to meditate and is the method I personally use regularly. You can purchase this kind of meditation and then play it on your CD or MP3 player. You need to find a place where you won't be disturbed for the length of the track, which is typically 30 to 60 minutes. The track will play a background noise - usually rainfall or music - as well as binaural beats. These beats play two slightly different tones, one into each ear. Your brain then tries to resolve the small difference between the tones and it is this which brings out a meditative state with next to no effort on your part. This kind of meditation is very powerful - don't get taken in by its simplicity!

Cosmic meditation

Quite similar to the binaural beats meditation, this is usually linked to Cosmic Ordering which is a structured form of Napoleon Hill's ideas from Think and Grow Rich. A cosmic meditation usually takes the form of a guided meditation which will get you relaxed and then allow you to send your current wish or goals liston to the cosmos.

Guided meditation

There are many of these available on the internet. They usually last between 20 and 60 minutes. Typically a guided meditation will start with a relaxation procedure so that you're relaxed and receptive for the main part of the meditation. It will then move on to the actual aim of the meditation, whether this is deep relaxation, healing your body, contacting your higher self or any other goal you have chosen. You can choose a single guided meditation or they are often sold in bundles of several guided meditations.

Whichever way of meditation you decide to use, you'll find that it helps to relax you and relieve the stresses and strains that seem to accompany our modern lifestyle.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

A participatory culture in which most of the population see themselves as creators as well as consumers of culture is far more likely to generate freedom and wealth for more people than one in which a small portion of the population produces culture that the majority passively consume. - http://mediatedcultures.net/ksudigg/

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Comprehensive review of fundamental neuroscience research shows that a human brain selects Brands like Google selects websites. Therefore our brain might just be retrieving information useing some sort of Pagerank. These findings will be published in the December issue of Journal of Brand Management.

"Brand choice turns out to be a largely unconscious process," says Tjaco Walvis, who led the one-and-a-half-year study. "But in that process, the brain behaves much like Google. It seems to use a set of rules called an algorithm to pick the brand from our memory that best and most reliably fits our functional and emotional needs at that particular moment. It behaves rationally, but in an unconscious way."

The study applied fundamental Neuroscience to branding, instead of the more common fMRI. The study examines processes at the cell level in the customer's brain as it decides which brands it prefers. The study also adds to existing research that contends that conventional views on brand choice are outdated and can be misleading.

Walvis states that the brain's "algorithm" for brand choice has three elements:

The brain selects the brand it has learned is best able to satisfy our biological and cultural goals

The brain selects the brand that has shown most frequently in the past that it is able to fulfill these needs.

The brain selects the brand it has interacted with most intensely in the past.

The result off the studies can mean that search engine marketing can be taken to the next level. It could mean that marketers can more efficiently target specific consumers but it can also mean consumers can more easily figure out the way marketers are trying to pursuede them to buy the offered products.

Last year the University of California came to a similar conclusion, as was reported in the NewScientist. This research seems to confirm the Universities findings, using a different kind of research method.